tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post2557601939203280094..comments2023-09-28T08:13:11.489-07:00Comments on Only In It For The Gold: Water and EnergyMichael Tobishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229460438349093944noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-32229978786267223152009-06-07T21:20:39.691-07:002009-06-07T21:20:39.691-07:00I suspect that all (certainly most) of the UK'...I suspect that all (certainly most) of the UK's nuclear power stations use sea water, which was a significant factor in their siting.<br /><br />Fresh water has an additional environmental cost in terms of impacting the local ecosystem - there are often restrictions on outlet temperature which may cause power stations to be shut down in hot weather.<br /><br />Of course in all cases the water is not actually used, merely borrowed, so even freshwater could presumably be later used for irrigation - but not first :-)James Annanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04318741813895533700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-63751185663355128252009-06-06T21:14:40.602-07:002009-06-06T21:14:40.602-07:00Salt water is a lot more aggressive chemically. I...Salt water is a lot more aggressive chemically. It can be handled but there is an additional costEliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-60181625998091478372009-06-05T18:02:17.609-07:002009-06-05T18:02:17.609-07:00Water used just for cooling can be (and sometimes ...Water used just for cooling can be (and sometimes is) successfully replaced by air cooling. A few weeks ago there was an excellent thread about this by a guest on Joe Romm's ClimateProgress.David B. Bensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02917182411282836875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-31718420713727700052009-06-05T14:45:25.998-07:002009-06-05T14:45:25.998-07:00check out south africa's nuclear power plant.check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koeberg_nuclear_power_station" rel="nofollow">south africa's nuclear power plant</a>.crfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10726414637021391906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-29809513990914554992009-06-05T12:54:32.799-07:002009-06-05T12:54:32.799-07:00I thought I read somewhere (but can't find a h...I thought I read somewhere (but can't find a handy reference, and Google is for once no help) that seawater *is* widely used for power-plant cooling. Aside from sea-level rise, there is the problem that sea-shores tend to be highly populated too, and nuclear (in particular, though it applies to coal as well) has that NIMBY issue.<br /><br />A steam turbine does need fresh water for the steam generating loop, but I believe that's generally a closed loop rather than taking fresh water from outside.Arthurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06249922708053689717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-52625835492192536572009-06-05T12:22:14.701-07:002009-06-05T12:22:14.701-07:00Concentrated solar power needs large amounts of wa...Concentrated solar power needs large amounts of water. But photovoltaic power plants need little water, mainly for cleaning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8524070301101240472.post-90257171080112083502009-06-05T12:19:50.843-07:002009-06-05T12:19:50.843-07:00If one agrees that water production and energy pro...<i>If one agrees that water production and energy production are related issues, this obviously becomes relevant....until today, the only person I had heard raise this issue has been Richard Doctor of Argonne National Laboratory. </i><br /><br />Can't track it down now, Michael, bu t several months ago Colo released a study that found if the oil shale on the Western Slope were to be exploited fully, ~750k fewer households would settle in Colo. Not a bad thing in itself, but the tradeoff is all that added C to the C cycle. <br /><br />Best,<br /><br />DDanohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03709762632849004871noreply@blogger.com